Of Pianos and Boarding School Boys
by Books and Other Drugs
Summary: Ellie Whiply is one of 4 students brought to Anubis from all around the world for their musical abilities. Relationships begin, paino is taught,and what on earth does Jerome Clarke have planned for her? Also, why is Alfie dressed like a girl? JeromeXOC
1. The DropOff

**Long story short, I fell in love with HOA(: This will be a multi- chapter fic with AlfieXAmber, NinaXFabian, MickXOC, and JeromeXOC. Maybe more couples, I have yet to decide! Please enjoy, my dearies(:**

"Good luck, Sweetheart!" My cab driver, a kind older woman, calls as she pulls away from the huge stone building in front of me. It's Victorian for sure, and in good condition. Better than good. More like perfect. Even the ivy that slithers around the sides seems like it's been placed to make the building look more antique.

Somehow, my jelly legs manage to carry me to the ridiculously ornate door without falling flat on my face. I reach up a shaky hand to knock quietly, surprised by the booming noise. Geez. Note to self: old wood makes things echo like heck. This waiting is killing me. That combined with the impatient butterflies ramming against my stomach was almost enough to make me sprint away from the house in fear. Or pee my pants…

"Hello!"

A tall blond boy wearing a tailored vest opens to door with a grin, looking mischievous. He has soft gray eyes that sparkle with curiosity and playfulness. He turns around and shouts:

"Guys? GUYS! THE NEW GIRL'S HERE!"

Instinctively, I cover my ears with my hands and shoot the blond a death glare. He only smirks in response and leans against the door jam, sneaker tracing invisible patterns onto the old floor. Curious orbs flicker across my face carefully and I can't help but to wonder why he's staring at me. In fact, it's starting to make me uncomfortable…

"I hope this new girl isn't as excitable as the other. Did you see her? She was hopping all over the place. She did have nice shoes, though, didn't she?" A high, airy voice floats to my ears as long nails type on a keyboard. At least, that's what it sounds like to me.

Another blond appears behind Jerome. A girl this time, and an extremely pink one at that. Her flirty chiffon dress is a beautiful shade of magenta with stilettos in a slightly lighter hue to match. The girl has a light shade of icy rose to adorn her lips and the iPhone she clutches is sheathed in a neon pink case.

The stilettos. That's what made the noise….A few blond ringlets fall into the girls pretty heart shaped face when she turns to face me.

"Well?" She asks "Don't you talk?"

I swallow hard, intimidated by her. She reminds me of the prissy girls at my last school. The one's that made fun of everything about me. I mean everything. My shoes, my hair, my voice. All of which, may I add, seemed perfectly fine to me. I guess not….

"Yes I talk your highness."

She quirks a barely-visible blond brow, tipping her head to think about me for a moment. Blue eyes rake over my clothes for just a moment before a grin spreads across her delicate face. A warm arm links through my own and I'm tugged through the doorway.

"Amber Millington. Come on in and I'll show you around. Oh and Jerome, dear?"

Amber turns to face the blond boy who opened the door. She smiles sweetly at him, plucks the duffel bag from my hand, and drops it on the floor. A thin finger points to my pile of luggage that could give Mt. Everest a run for its money.

"Be a gentleman and grab her bags."

I giggle at the offended look on the boy's face and Amber drags me past a ornate staircase into what appears to be the living room. Yup, it is the living room. I remember it from the pictures on the school website. A boy with hair roughly the color of a chestnut glances up at me from one of the couches.

"You must be our other new girl. My name's Fabian Rutter, by the way. You are?"

I'm Ellie"

A nervous smile carves through my face as Fabian chuckles quietly. There's a moment of awkward silence before the other boy on the couch looks up, brown eyes sparkling.

"Jerome just texted me that I'm not supposed to talk to you"

The boy snickers quietly, gesturing towards the iPhone on his lap. The screen is still pulled up and I can see the conversation bubbles. Hmm. He wasn't lying.

"Jerome's an arse though. My name's Alfie Lewis!"

Alfie hops up and shakes my hand vigorously. After that, everything's just kind of a whirl of people's faces and names. I meet a Patricia, a Mara, a Mick, a Nina, and another new girl names Maggie. She's an absolute dream, porcelain skin and bouncy red curls. On top of being from Ireland, Maggie's also a beautiful singer. I wonder if she got a scholarship for a talent, too….

"The new boy's should be here tomorrow!" Amber squeals as she leads me upstairs.

She drops me off at the dorm I'll be sharing with Maggie, who promptly starts lecturing excitedly about how we can paint this room some other color than this weird blue. I try my best to smile and nod at all the right times but I can't help but to feel the first pangs of homesickness in my stomach.

I guess I'm just one of 4 newbies this year. Trudy, ourhouse mom, managed to fill me in over the chatter at dinner. We've got two boys- an Australian and a South African- coming sometime before breakfast. For the life of me, I can't remember their names.

Oh well.

All that comes to mind right now is how much Maggie's gentle snores sound just like my little brother's at home.


	2. Good Morning

I don't own House Of Anubis or any of the lyrics from the song Maggie will sing! Enjoy

**-Katherine Elizabeth**

Sunlight streams through the curtain brilliantly, landing as warm beams of buttery yellow on my bed. I stare at them quietly. My mind is instantly filled with everything I left behind in America. My mom, my little brother, my dad, even my best friend, Charlie. A dull ache weaves through my stomach as I remember home.

For a few moments, there is not a sound in the world. I know it's because I get up earlier than everyone in the house but a part of me can't help but to wonder if I was allowed a small gift before the chaos of the first day. This silence is peaceful and long, broken only by a few gentle snores form my roommate, Maggie. She rolls over gently, blinking at me with big blue eyes. Her ornate ringlets have been flattened in her sleep and she raises a hand to the messy mop of red with a giggle.

"I look horrible!" Maggie smiles at the feel of her tangled locks. I must admit, she looks pretty silly. I reach for my robe and pull it on while my roommate hops out of her green-clad bed with a flourish. We both hustle around and attempt to get ready in this new surrounding the best we can. Maggie stands next to me in the mirror, her head tipped to the side once we both look rather presentable "We look different" She murmurs quietly. Of course, Maggie's right. She's extremely beautiful and I'm just not. No doubt about it.

"The situation turned around" She opens her mouth and that perfect, bell-like voice belts out the words. "Enough to figure out that someone else has let you down. So many times I don't know why…" Maggie grins at me in the mirror "But I know we can make it as long as you say it"

A girl is no longer next to me. Here stands an angel in a burgundy blazer, twirling around with heaven shining from her eyes. Light pours from her fingers and her voice throws sparkles into every corner of the room. A girl is no longer next to me. A miracle pirouettes across the room in a gray skirt, the joy of every moment from every second from every year of every life encircling her.

"So tell me that you love me, yeah, tell me that I take your breath away!" Maggie takes my hands in hers and dances me right out the door, right down the stairs, right into the kitchen "So tell me that you love me anyway" With one last burst of euphoria, that voice rolls right back into Maggie and winks. I know it'll come back sometime.

"You're the voice?"

A small, velvety voice pours from someone in the corner. Immediately I remember that he wasn't here yesterday. I would've remembered. There was no way anyone could ever forget this boy.

He was tall and rail thin, a beanpole at best. One of those kids that you don't know how he's actually supporting his own weight. Inky locks are mussed and unkempt in a legitimate fashion, not the fake way boys sometimes style their hair. But what was so special about him? The_ eyes. _Round sapphire globes so wide and beautiful you could swear they were impossible. Does something so innocent still exist in this world? Is that even remotely conceivable?

"Sorry" He murmurs in that smooth South African accent "I'm Alastar Sievve" Jerome glares at Alastar with a newfound hatred that I don't understand. A pair of gray eyes burn a hole into the other boy's skull, an attempt destined for failure. Those orbs scream death and torture. And then Alastar looks at me.

"The Cello will be here soon"

He never speaks above a murmur but it suits him just fine. Alastar seems like the quiet type, the boy who has so much to say but he knows no one else could comprehend all that goes on in his head. And he seems to be intent by calling us all by our instruments. This could be a little…annoying.

"I'm Jerome" He smiles, almost embarrassed, staring down at his toast and eggs "Sorry. For, you know, giving you the death glare yesterday….for being a jerkbag"

I have to let out a loud giggle. Death glare. Jerkbag. "Ellie" I grin "What's a jerkbag?"

"Oh, simple really. It's the ultimate insult. Jerkbag's the genius hybrid of jerk and dou-"

"JEROME!" Amber, from her seat across the room, snaps with a chuckle "We have new ears around, you ninny! Have a little class!" I can tell that this is a usual morning, with Alfie and Mick engaged it what seems to be a routine spoon war. Patricia and Mara were giggling over a magazine. This place seems so…..Teen-agey.

Jerome grabs my arm gently, pulling me down next to him at the table. I glance around me and try to take in the whiz of activity, chatter, and random bits of breakfast that will be mine for the next 4 years of my life. My scholarship has entitled me a spot at this place for my high school education.

Suddenly, a piece of syrup-soaked waffle is thrown across the table, splattering onto Fabian's gray cardigan. "Oh, that's it, Lewis!" He shoots Alfie a look promising a long and painful death before wielding a piece of toast right back

"Welcome to Anubis House, Ellie. Enjoy"


End file.
